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Government

President Barack Obama is on track to be one of the worst presidents in history. Having been in office less than a year, he has built a track record in failure like no other president before him. As his stated goals have been to change the very ideals of America, Obama’s failures may be a great success for our country. Likewise, should Obama actually find some sort of success in the future, it is likely to be the cause of great trouble for the United States.

Straightaway as he took office, President Obama promoted the so-called “economic stimulus bill.” This three-quarter of a trillion dollar corporate-welfare swindle was pushed on America as the only way to stop the economic slowdown. By not addressing the true causes of the bad economy, congressional interference in the mortgage, automotive, and energy sectors, it was easier to blame President Bush, and bankers for situations both were forced to endure. The result? Massive erosion of freedom, as Congress used the stimulus as an excuse to control individual wages, a contiunuation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to exist in economically harmful ways, and an unemployment rate far above what Obama promised should the stimulus not be passed.

With the stimulus, Obama succeeded in legislation, but failed massively in result. America is in worse shape because of its passing.

Onward to the next major emergency legislation that must be passed RIGHT NOW. Obama supported the “cap and trade” legislation to “fight global warming” long before he took office. He actually said, “If somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can. It’s just that it will bankrupt them.” Obama’s goal wasn’t just to promote so-called “green technologies,” but to force the forms of energy we rely on every day out of the market. His stated intention was to run out of business an industry that many thousands of working men and women across many states relied on for a living.

The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives complied, passing one of the most egregious infringements on freedom known to America.

Luckily, word got out about what damage the bill would cause. The bill would cause increases in energy costs, resulting in increases in costs on everything else. After all, it takes energy to manufacture, warehouse, transport, display, and retail pretty much everything you buy. Since the end consumer pays all those costs in the final price, the end consumer would pay the bill. That would damage the economy further, likely resulting in an economic spiral when we need it least.

As it looks now, the Senate is unlikely to continue work on this piece of “emergency” legislation until at least next year. So much for the “if we don’t pass this now” horse manure Obama tried to foist on us so many weeks ago.

With one emergency bill not yet completed, another was brought up. Now it’s time, apparently, to completely upturn everything concerning the healthcare industry. Painting the insurance industry’s profit margin of 3.3% as exhorbitant, Obama and the Democrats maneuvered (manured?) to wrest control of healthcare from their hands. With deficits, and debt piling on daily, the trillion dollar “healthcare reform” bill had to be passed RIGHT NOW.

Then, people started actually reading the bill. By people, I mean actual citizens. I do not mean Obama or Congress. Obama, asked about a detail of the bill, replied, “You know, I have to say that I am not familiar with the provision you are talking about.” John Conyers said, “I love these members that get up and say, ‘Read the bill. What good is reading the bill if it’s a thousand pages and you don’t have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill?”

You know what? I haven’t read the whole bill. I have read quite a bit of it, though. It is convoluted, and boring, but I took some time to actually research the issue. I don’t even have a vote in the matter. You might think, though, that Obama and Congress would bother reading a bill before insulting MY intelligence for opposing it on the issues.

Let me give you a hint, Mr President. You don’t gain the support of America by insulting your opponents, especially when dealing with an issue in which over half of America is in the opposition.

Obama even went on TV multiple times to push the health care bill. He continually referred to his plan, even though he has yet to actually propose a plan. He claimed he would veto a bill presented to him if it contained unpopular provisions, but many of those provisions are in the house bill. Unlike Congress, many citizens could find the time to research this information, which is why Obama’s televised appeals each resulted in a DROP in popularity for the bill.

Oh yeah, the Senate probably won’t get to this piece of emergency legislation until next year. They’re debating over which provisions Obama said he would veto they want to include (really!) and to what extent.

Obama says the economy is turning around, and jobless claims are levelling off. Almost immediately, new jobless reports show the opposite. Obama promotes the Olympics to Chicagoans, and Chicagoans demonstrate opposition.

The latest? Obama goes to the International Olympic Committee to promote Chicago for the Olympics, and the IOC completely snubs him, knocking Chicago out in the first round of voting.

He’s not the savior. He’s not bringing prosperity. He’s not bringing America together. He’s not leading an ethical government. He’s not, apparently, capable of speaking coherently without a teleprompter. Heck, he has yet to demonstrate he’s all that smart.

President Barack Hussein Obama has proven that he is really only good at one thing. He’s a miserable failure, on his way toward having arguably the worst presidency in the history of the United States.

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We are in a serious economic situation right now. Not many people are aware of how dire things really are. While President Obama and the Democrat-run House and Senate are trying to work out how much more to spend on this and that, the available funds to pay for it have come and gone. Right now, the United States is out of cash, and must borrow to pay for anything Congress might decide is a good idea.

Did you know that it it costs over $300 billion just to service the debt of the US Federal government right now? Some readers may not know what that means. It means that the interest payments alone, on past loans given to the US Government add up to $300,000,000,000 every year. Let’s put that into perspective.

The top company on the Fortune 500 is Exxon Mobil with $45 billion in profits. The top four profitable companies on the list totaled profits of $100 million. You have to go down to #70 in the list before the profits add up to the interest on the US debt. If we taxed these companies at 100% of their profits for a year, we could pay the interest, but not the principal on the debt. If you think taxing these companies at 100% is a good idea, you’re an idiot that should have studied some basic economic theory, but nonetheless, I know you’re out there.

We are in an economic downturn, and even if some are saying we’re on the way out, we are going to continue to be in a dire economic situation unless something is done about government spending and debt. Congress, and President Obama should not be doing anything that would cost, well, pretty much anything. If they do, it adds to the debt, and offers no stimulus to the economy to offset the costs.

That’s right. As a blanket statement, I said that anything Congress and the President do that costs money will provide no stimulus to the economy. There may be some ancillary benefits, but all money spent by the government must be, sooner or later, paid for by the citizens of the United States. Personal income taxes are a direct tax, to be sure, but the rest of the taxes are paid by the citizens as well. Corporate taxes aren’t paid for with money pulled from trees. The taxes are a cost of doing business, and that cost is always passed along to the consumer. If Congress passes a new tax on oil companies, you pay more for gas at the pump. It’s a simple concept, and one that many cannot grasp.

What do we consider a recession? A recession is an economic downturn that lasts at least 3 fiscal quarters. Why do we care if there is a recession? It’s because of the worry that we, as citizens, will end up with less financial stability, or cash to purchase for our needs. How do we improve the economy? We increase the amount of money flowing between individuals, businesses, and corporations for goods and services.

Will the “Cap and Trade” bill, which is designed to put certain power companies out of business, increase the flow of money for goods and services? Of course not. It’s designed to do otherwise. Will the so-called “health care reform” bills in Congress increase this flow? No, like the cap and trade bill, the health care bill is designed to put a large portion of the health care industry out of business, leaving many thousands unemployed.

What if there was something we could do that would increase the flow of money for goods and services on a large scale? What if it would also result in a dramatic cut in the number of people able to get insurance? What if it would result in a turnaround in the home market? What if it would stimulate the automobile industry? What if it would mean more jobs, lower prices on many items, higher food production, and possibly even more people driving fuel-efficient cars?

I know what it would take to make this happen. It would work. The results would be dramatic, and immediate.

All we have to do is drop the federal personal income tax to zero.

Look at your last pay stub. How much of your income was taken out to pay the federal income tax? Are we talking $50, which would buy groceries for one for a week? Is it more like $100? For one month’s income taxes, could you buy an iPod? A new PC? Make a car payment? For some, it may even be a house payment.

What would be the cost to the US Government of a tax cut like this? It would remove approximately $1 trillion from the government’s coffers. Let’s not get stuck on that, though, because that number is false. It isn’t even worth considering without more information.

You see, the influx of cash that a personal income tax cut of this magnitude would cause would have other effects. With more money available, more will be spent. Sure, some will throw their money away on beer, but that means more sales for beer companies, and they’ll have to hire new employees to meet the demand. Some will buy cars, meaning automobile companies will have to produce and sell the cars. How many iPods and iPhones will be purchased? Apple will probably have to build new manufacturing facilities just to handle the demand. More production and purchasing of goods and services means more corporate income, and therefore more money going to corporate income taxes.

That $1 trillion cost for the tax cut would mean more purchasing, more manufacturing, more hiring, more income, and therefore more purchasing. It’s a wonderful circle that can be helped, or harmed, by government action. It is likely that, within a year or two, the $1 trillion hit the first year would result in more than $1 trillion in increased tax returns. The government would, if history is any guide, make more then it cost.

Of course, as brilliant as this idea is (it wasn’t mine originally, mind you) it won’t happen. You see, this idea is based in one concept that few in Washington DC understand.

Freedom.

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As the arguments have gone on about how to bail out the US auto industry, I’ve thought a lot about it myself.I believe that the US auto industry can be saved with some rather simple steps. Primarily, these include such common-sense things as un-crippling the automakers, reforming the automotive market, and trying some innovative experimental tax reform.

As the latest in my ongoing series of posts advising President-Elect Obama, I’d like to approach international issues. This may be a moot point, since Obama already has many international ties. Regardless, I’ll try to hit some high points.

As self-appointed advisor to President-Elect Obama, I am duty-bound to offer advice as I have it, on how to succeed in the office of president. Since I’m not tied to any particular field of work, I don’t have to limit my advice to economic, international, or domestic issues. Instead, I offer my advice for success of the man in the office itself. Today’s advice: Promise something to someone every single day you can.

When I look back through history at Democrat Presidents, the greatest personal successes came from those who promised a lot. Promises are an important tool in the Democrat arsenal, and one that you haven’t used to great effect so far.

In my new role as advisor to President-Elect Barack Obama, it is my duty to provide the best advice I can. The goal of this advice is to elevate the new President and the Democrat Party. I really wish my advice could be for the betterment of the United States and their citicens, but too often those two goals are mutually exclusive.

Today’s advice is this. Take credit for anything good that happens during your presidency. Add to that the following corollary. Give blame for anything bad to George Bush and the Republicans.

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In the original SimCity game, this type of post-Kelo action would be trouble. Every hardcore SimCity player knew that bulldozing a church to redevelop the land it sat on would result in an earthquake. Now, in Oklahoma, a political earthquake may be coming. The Anchoress tells a story of how churches, homes, and businesses are going to be bulldozed to make room for a new “Super Center” of stores, including a Home Depot.
The Kelo decision of the US Supreme Court wasn’t where this started. It was around before. The Supremes just turned the gravel road of tax-based seizures into a superhighway. Let’s home someone cleans this mess up in my lifetime.

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There has been a lot of talk back and forth about the filibuster rule in the US Senate. Some see the filibuster as a glorious institution which must be protected, while others see it as an annoyance. I fall into the latter category, regardless of the party exercising the power. The word itself has its roots from the spanish word “filibustero,” which refers to bands of adventurers that traveled in the New World stirring up revelutions.
Legislatively, filibusters were seen in the 19th century as major annoyances, as a single person would take the floor of the Senata and speak, refusing the yield the floor to anyone else. As long as this person spoke, no other business could take place. It stayed this way until 1917, when the rules were changed to allow 2/3 of the Senate to stop the debate. In 1975, the Senate once again changed the rules to reduce the requirements to stop debate further to 2/5 of the Senate, or 60 members.
These days, the rules don’t even require a single member of the Senate to get up and speak in order to prevent business from continuing. The hallowed institution of the filibuster has been changed so completely from its historical form that the minority party now need only declare that they intend to filibuster to start one, and other business of the Senate can then continue in the meantime.
I propose a real fix for the filibuster. It is a very simple fix. All that need occur is for the Senate to change the rules and once again require that a single Senator hold the floor in debate, preventing further Senate business, until a 3/5 vote of the Senate can be passed to force a stop to the debate. It makes much more sense, returns the Senate to proper operation much quicker, and forces one Senator to stand up for his beliefs. In the current situation, it gives both the Republicans and the Democrats what they say they want. Republicans want action on the President’s nominees, which they would get in a matter of days. Democrats would keep the institution of the filibuster around in a way that MORE closely mirrors history than it does now.
With that done, the Democrats could be back where they’ve been before, using the filibuster to try to stop equal rights for black people.

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Doug Petch points out this news story about a new form of camera enforcement in Arlington, Virginia.“Arlington, Virginia has taken the next step in automated camera enforcement. Next month, it will expand its use of “BootFinder,” a camera device that scans license plates of parked cars and compares it against a database of unpaid fines. If the car’s owner is listed as delinquent, the car can be towed — and if the owner doesn’t pay within 10 days the car is auctioned.”
So, if you have unpaid car taxes, property taxes, park fees or overdue library books in Arlington, Virginia, you might want to watch out.

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There has been much speculation on the identity of the pseudonymed source used by Woodward and Bernstein in their Watergate expose that helped to take down President Richard M. Nixon. For approximately 30 years, different names and theories have been put forth by researchers, writers, conspiracy theorists and such. In the last couple days, I’ve even heard a theory that former President George H. W. Bush was the anonymous leaker.
According to this story from the New York Daily News, the revelation may be forthcoming. Woodward and Bernstein have said that they would reveal the source’s identity after his death, and not before. John Dean, a major Watergate scandal figure, says that the “Deep Throat” figure is very ill. According to Dean, this person is on his death bed and his obituary has already been written.
I may have to take part in the “Deep Throat” deathwatch by drinking out of my Watergate Hotel coffee cup. Where did I put that thing…